The festival of Holi in Agra took a pleasant turn for the tourism industry of Agra, when a group of 300 foreign tourists viewed the Taj Mahal by moonlight on the night of 23rd March.

Tourists from United States, Britain, France, Germany, Australia and Spain participated in this event and played Holi with representatives of the local tourism industry, using herbal colors and flowers.

Tourists celebrate Holi at the Taj Mahal. Photo: Siraj Qureshi

Talking to India Today, Agra Tourist Welfare Chamber Secretary Vishal Sharma said that it had been observed that most of the foreign tourist traffic coming to the Braj region got diverted towards Mathura and Vrindavan to witness the spectacle of the colourful Holi festival in the land of Lord Krishna.

This tour, organized by a local travel group Touraids (I) was a highly appreciable attempt to bring back the tourist traffic to Agra during the waning phase of the tourism season.

Apart from the specially organized Holi event at Kalakruti, tourists visiting the Taj Mahal on Thursday also appeared keen in participating in the Holi celebrations on their way to the Taj Mahal from their hotels and most of the tourists visiting the monument were covered with multicoloured Gulal and paint and smiling faces could be seen everywhere as the tourists enjoyed taking selfies at the Taj Mahal.

Agra SSP Pritinder Singh said that the Holi bonfire was lit at over 1250 places in the city and security arrangements had been strengthened in the city to prevent any unwelcome incident.

He said that any incident with the tourists could affect Agra's image globally, so special care was being taken to protect the tourists from mischievous elements while not preventing the tourists from enjoying the cultural diversity of India through participation.

Holi was also celebrated in the Muslim-dominated areas of the city with equal vigour and several community leaders including Bhartiya Muslim Vikas Parishad chairman Sami Agai, Syed Irfan Salim, Bundan Miyan, Imran Qureshi, Ziyauddin, Gyas Qureshi celebrated the festival with the Hindu community by applying colors to their faces in an order to dispel the misconceptions that the Muslims were a narrowly communal-minded community.

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